That is what our attitude is as Christians. It is a mixture of awe, and being humbled, and a mixture of peace and comfort, because he is for us, and he is ours, and he is not against us. Our response should be one of awe and submission and obedience. We see his work, Calvary and salvation, and we become saved, and we worship him, and adore him with a great hymn such as that which John provides us with. But then we see him more, and his person, and his awe, and majesty, and power, and goodness, and love, and the more we see him, the more we respond with awe and submission, obedience. We want to obey him, we want to do his work, we want to serve him because we have seen more of him. And we are humbled.
John who had leaned on Christ’s bosom with a familiarity not enjoyed by any of the other disciples is now as one dead. The apostle of Jesus Christ is unable to bear the sight of the glorified Saviour. How much Christ must have hidden his glory when he came to earth. He desired men to know him by faith and not by sight. John has a foretaste of what that glory will be but being in the flesh he is unable to bear the sight. He realises as never before who it was he had walked with on earth.
Let us be modest about the extent of our knowledge and realise how much more there is for us to learn about our Lord. Let us not be puffed up about what we have understood. There are glories of Christ beyond our capacity to see now. At his second coming we shall all be amazed for we shall see him as he is. At the same moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be changed and enabled to bear the sight. Christ knowing the his weakness, and being filled with love for his disciple, reaches out his hand to touch the prostrate John. All of Christ’s almighty power, which we sense could be used so easily to destroy us, is actually used, because of his grace, to comfort us.